A Gardener's Alphabet

A master of the hand-colored woodcut, artist Mary Azarian shares with the viewer (of any age) her love of gardens - both vegetable and flower - and the work and joy that goes into their cultivation. Though there are appropriate words for each letter, it is the lovingly detailed pictures that reward our close attention. Turning the pages is akin to viewing a superior art exhibition. Children will also expand their gardening vocabulary: arbor, compost, topiary and xeriscape, the most obscure X ever to grace an alphabet book. (It means a garden of desert flower and plants.) This is a lovely picture-book, particularly for summer reading and viewing.